Curtailments Word Game

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett. And joining us from New York City is John Chanesky.

John!

Hi, John.

Hi, Martha. Hi, Grant. How are you guys today?

John, you’re still our quiz guy, right?

Of course. Of course.

Because I’ve got so many of them. I have to get rid of them somehow.

Coming out your ears.

Piles of them. Exactly.

Here’s one called curtailments.

Now, we’ve done curtailments before, I think.

They’re a common form of wordplay, especially in the NPL, the National Puzzlers League.

They’re quite simple. You take a word, remove its last letter to get another word.

Curtail one word to get the other.

For example, star is a curtailment of start.

Got it?

Right.

So let’s start, you stars.

I’ll give you a clue that indicates two words.

The first is always a curtailment of the second.

For example, Vincent van Gogh was presumably in possession of a lot of the first.

And once he cut off his ear, he had a lot of the second.

Paint and pain.

Pain and pain, right.

Very good.

Very nice.

Let’s go on to the first one.

Here we go.

Okay.

If you view a particularly beautiful sunset, you might say, what an amazing first, and then heave a contented second.

Sight and sigh.

Sight and sigh.

Jinx your own makeover.

Very good.

If you meet someone and get along with them very well, you might say you feel a first.

But if you don’t get along, you might get into a ring and second.

Ooh.

Get into a ring and fight?

Box?

Punch?

When you get along with them, you feel a certain first.

But if you don’t, you might get into a boxing ring and…

Je ne sais quoi.

It’s sort of practice boxing.

Spar and spark.

Spark and spark.

Yes.

Very good.

I like this next one.

My niece is great.

She’s a first in junior high, but she likes that Hello Kitty stuff, which I find so second.

I’m going with childish, but that doesn’t work for anything.

She’s a…

So…

She’s of a particular age.

Tween?

She’s a tween, and Hello Kitty is twee.

Yes.

Oh, very nice.

Tween and twee.

Here’s another one.

Everyone ultimately earns a black belt when they learn first, except for the Donald, whose belt is 24 second.

Carrot.

Right.

And karate.

Karate and carrot.

Yes.

Nice.

You tend to do the second one first, which is fine, but it’s great.

Here’s another one.

When you’re in rehab, sometimes the rules can seem quite first.

For example, you’ve got to second all ties with bad influences.

Severe and sever.

Severe and sever.

Very nice.

When it gets really cold in the winter, my family and I gather around the first.

And I think, you know, home really is where the second is.

Hearth and heart.

Hearth and heart.

I was thinking fire and ire.

Depends on the family.

That’s the difference between us, Grant.

You would think the salespeople would find it weird that I like to first the cashmere sweaters at Macy’s, but the truth is, in New York, nobody’s second.

Caress and cares.

Caress and cares, yes.

He saw a celebrity flipping out on the highway first.

He should have called the police, but he called the second.

Oh, median and media.

Yes.

Whoa.

Don’t call the media.

Call the police.

Now, those spooky sounds we heard from the first,

We thought it was huck, but it turned out to be second.

Those spooky sounds we heard from the first,

We thought it was huck.

Huck as in huck-fen.

Right.

But it turned out to be second.

Is this another character from the novel?

Oh, the tomb and Tom.

Tomb and Tom.

Very good.

Okay, here’s the last one.

A storm is coming, and just in case you first, you should sail your boat to safe second.

Well, safe harbor and…

Not harbor.

No.

Port.

Haven’t and Haven.

Yes, Haven’t and Haven.

A little tricky one there with a contract.

It was tricky.

That’s the quiz?

That’s the quiz.

Awesome.

That was great, John.

Terrific.

And if you have a question about wordplay, language, grammar, slang, regional dialects, call us 877-929-9673.

Or you can send an email to words@waywordradio.org.